November 29, 2004

Reuters' Long Island Wine Piece: Tell Us Something We Don't Know

Yesterday, Reuters published a story on Long Island wines and wineries. I was glad to see the story because Long Island wines don't get nearly enough national press...at least in my less-than-humble opinion.

The piece was a disappointment. It had the usual "Long Island's climate is the same as Bordeaux's" slant, compared the region to Napa Valley 25 years ago and quoted representatives from some of the Island's lower tier winemakers.

This is all old news that most everyone has already heard about the region. I don't claim to be a climate expert, but I bet there are dozens of places that have similar climates to Bordeaux. And, doesn't most any emerging U.S. wine region compare itself to Napa at some point?

There is a mistake in the story as well. It mentions that Michael Lynne, co-CEO of New Line Cinema, "recently bought the Corey Creek Vineyards, Bedell Cellars and Wells Road Vineyard."

He actually bought them in August 2000. Recent?

The writer probably used "recent" because it's still on the Bedell website. I'm not sure that excuses it though, does it?

I'd just like to see more interesting pieces written about Long Island wine country...instead of the same fluffy, purely-promotional drivel. The region is packed with interesting people, stellar winemakers and world-class wines. Why not find something interesting to write about?

Why no mention of Premium Wine Group, the only custom crush facility on the east coast? No mention of Eric Fry or Roman Roth, two of the top winemakers out here? No mention of Manhattan chef David Page's and Barbara Shinn's love affair with the region and their vineyard?

Say the same things over and over in the media and people eventually will tune it out, making it mere background noise. Come up with something new and interesting and people will take notice.

There's just a lot more interesting stuff going on than Napa comparisons and Michael Lynne "recently" buying vineyards.